social psychology

• social influence


  process by which behaviour, beliefs & attitudes are changed by the presence or actions of others
• why do people conform?

  -informational social influence

  -normative social influence

  -identification to social roles & expectations
• informational social influence 


  -THE NEED TO BE RIGHT

  -occurs when there's no correct/obvious answer to question

  -turn to others for information

  -more unsure = more likely to conform
• informational social influence - strength

  -supported by variations of Asch's line study

  -when task more difficult, number of conforming responses increased
• normative social influence 


  -THE NEED TO BE LIKED

  -occurs due to basic need to be accepted by group

  -group doesn't need to be meaningful

  -isn't necessarily important to agree with group as long as there's the appearance of agreement / harmony
• normative social influence - strengths


  -supported by Asch's line study as when separate everyone answered correctly > no need for normative SI

  -when in group with confederate 32% gave incorrect answer

  -wanted to be accepted by group

  and

  -when Ps answered privately by writing down incorrect answers decreased
• identification to social roles & expectations

  -we internalise what's expected of us when we take on certain roles

  -conform to these expectations

  -seen in Zimbardo's study
• identification to social roles & expectations - strength


  -supported by Zimbardo's prison study

  -behaved uncharacteristically to normal personalities
• identification to social roles & expectations - weakness

  -may have conformed due to demand characteristics

  -Ps acted in assigned roles
• fill in the blanks

  A) deny

  B) equal

  C) hierarchy

  D) acceptance

  E) similar

  F) requirement

  G) implicit

  H) embrace

  I) hierarchy

  J) power

  K) differs

  L) authority

  M) explicit